It's Just the Beginning
by Nevaeh
Summary: WARNING: Does contant some spoilers. This is a short story I decide to write about from Cloud's point of view. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!


Author's Note: Hey, I hope you like this! It's an in-betweener I thought I'd come up with. If you haven't beaten the game or haven't picked up Cloud from Mideel, I warn you, this fic holds HUGE spoilers! Don't read on if you don't want to know a huge twist in the plot. Ok also sorry about the lay up. There were suppose to be a space between the paragraphs but for some reason it won't show up like that.  
This is from Cloud's point of view and what I think went on in his mind from the end of the battle with Sephiroth to the death of Zack. This is one of my first fics so I hope you enjoy and.Please Review!!!! ^_^  
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Final Fantasy 7 or its characters. I do not claim ownership all I did was write this fic, that is all.  
It's Just the Beginning  
  
By: Nevaeh  
What happened? That was the first thing that crossed by mind as I laid there. The events seemed to be scrabbled in my own mind. I would start to piece it together then it would separate completely. It would slip through my fingers as if I was trying to grip water.  
Drip, drip.  
  
I wiped the water that had leaked through the Mako reactor's roof off of my face. It was obvious the architect that designed this place hadn't learned his geometry as well as he should have. I glared at the rusted dome like ceiling above my head. It was my wake up call to this aftermath that I had left for myself. I shifted my head trying to get away from the poodle that leaks in the roof had created around my body. I blinked at first, surprised at how my body would not obey my commands to move. I managed somehow to move my head to look down at my body and that's when it hit me and hit me hard.  
The puddle surrounding me was not water, but my own blood from where I had been wounded earlier, from when. He had spun around with skill I did not expect. I felt pain cut through me threatening to pull me half. I can't remember the event clearly in my mind, but I have a feeling I will eventually, rather I want to or not. I just remember a wave of rage at its strongest level. Logical reasoning was out of my gasp, I was beyond that, far beyond. I gripped the blade of the sword, the same one that was threatening to take my very life and lifted it, tossing the sliver-haired man on the other side, over the edge sending him to the depths of the Mako reactor.  
My head fell back onto the metal bridge where I had collapsed after the fight. The pain I was in snapped me back to reality. The shock had worn off and with each minute the pain worsened. My weakened body couldn't take it and before long the Mako reactor was turning a strange black.  
My eyelids flicked open against my wishes. It took a moment for my senses to come back tome but when it did it surprised me. Someone, I'm not sure who, but someone is dragging me. Where to I'm not sure, I can only pray its somewhere where I can get some sort of help.I hope.after all, I'm in no condition to object. I found myself being laid down rather roughly. To be blunt, I was dropped like a one ton weight. My head hit the dampened ground simultaneously as rain pelted my face, so much for getting annoyed at a stupid drop. I rolled my head over trying to get my bearings. There lying beside me was Zack. He was knocked out cold. With what little strength I had left I nudged him with my arm, trying to wake him up. No luck, he didn't even stir. I had no idea how much trouble I was in.I looked up as a long shadow loomed over me. My eyes blurred as rain hit them making it hard to see the figure.  
"Sir! I think he's waking!" a voice shouted rather panicked.  
I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus. Who the heck is this guy?  
"What?! That's impossible no one could have survived a wound like that!" an older male voice replied.  
"Well, what should I do?" the younger male asked.  
"Take care of it, I trust one such as yourself can solve this problem on your  
  
own." the older one spoke as if he was snarling.  
Take care of it? What was THAT supp- I stopped as the figure came into focus. There standing over me was a guard in the same uniform I wore, a Shrina guard.suddenly a splitting headache erupted in me and I fell once more into a deep sleep.  
I didn't want to open my eyes because every time I did, it seemed like things went from bad to worse. I was right. I was in some sort of tube like thing. Why I was in this glass prison was something I had a feeling I didn't want to know. All I knew was Shrina had betrayed me, but not only me, Zack, Tifa..the whole town of Nibelheim. But Shrina wasn't the only one who had changed in my eyes. The 'great almighty war hero' had made a complete turn about. He went from someone, who I joined SOLDIER in hopes of becoming when I was younger, to a man that threatened to wipe me from existence. I flinched. I was changing as well, years ago I don't think I could have pulled myself together to face Sephiroth, yet there I had been and against all odds beat him. I amused myself by wondering if I could do it again. Then another thought struck me. I thought about it, not just the battle with Sephiroth but the whole thing, finding Tifa knocked out on the stairs, seeing the town as a whole, burning to the ground. That picture was what planted the seed of anger in me and from there it grew. I shook my head suppressing the thought of seeing my hometown slowly burning to the ground. I hated it, I hated it all, how I couldn't show myself because I was only a guard, how I was turned down for SOLDIER, and how I just stood on the sidelines and watched. Of course that whole night.I suppressed it, I suppressed it all. I jammed it to the corner of my mind. I don't want to think about it, I don't think I can.  
I slightly turn my head, more like just my eyes, to see that Zack was there next to me in the same tube like thing. I watched as a guard walked in and laid down the tray of food on the nearby table. He turned to look at me and Zack, with a cruel smirk on his face.  
"Not all high and mighty are ya, now? Had no idea what was going to happen , did ya?" the guard laughed as he tapped the glass, separating him and Zack.  
I would have given anything at that moment to reach out and grab that man by the neck, but for once it seemed as if my luck was changing. Zack would do it for me. It happened in a flash. Zack broke the glass containing him and next thing I knew the guard wasn't smirking anymore. He didn't even stand a chance.  
Zack turned towards me, "Hey, how about you say we get outta here, before anymore of our pals show up."  
I would have nodded, if I could've moved my head, that is.  
Zack opened the door as he pulled one of my arms around his neck. I have no idea where I gained the strength to somehow stand but I did, though I really wouldn't have called it standing, morel like leaning.  
"Take it easy now, man." Zack spoke as I dragged my feet on our first step towards the door.  
I owe Zack one. Here he is practically carrying me out of the door.  
"One step at a time, alright?" I nodded slightly, I think.  
With the help of Zack I made it up the spiraling stairs of the Shrina Mansion. We both paused as we heard footsteps. Zack leaned up against the wall trying his best to blend us into the shadows. As the footsteps grew louder they revealed another guard. The guard paused for a moment. He looked to his left, then right. I held my breath, for if we were caught it would be over. Our escape plan would come to a crash and burn, kind of ending. He then shrugged and moved on. Zack and I both let out a deep sigh.  
Zack and I proceeded as best we could out of the Shrina Mansion. Zack gritted his teeth as he looked about. The Shrina guards were still working on trying to control the fire. Some buildings were in smoking heaps of debris. What was left which wasn't much at all, maybe a few scrapes of wood, but nothing worth saving. I turn my head, luckily I was slowly gaining my strength back.  
Zack cursed as he started, "How are we suppose to get out of this town without being caught?"  
I slowly raised a finger and pointed towards the fence surrounding the Shrina Mansion. He followed my finger and raised an eyebrow not seeing what I was really pointing at.  
"You think we can slip between the fence rails? Sorry to break it to ya man, but we can't." Zack spoke.  
My voice was gravely as I replied, "Just walk over there."  
Zack gave me a look but did as I commanded.  
Nothing seemed out of ordinary, an iron fence with some over grown vines covering it. The black paint was chipped away in many spots and the fence itself seemed ominous.  
"Pull away the vines." I made my sentences short and to the point trying to keep my breath under control.  
Zack sighed as he did so. He reached up and pulled, expecting to see just three more poles of the fence, but his expression changed as he looked at what the vines revealed. I knew it would. In one tug the vines ripped off revealing a hole in the fence, one just large enough for us to squeeze through.  
"How did you know about this?" Zack asked as he stepped over the bar of the fence then helped me over it.  
"I used this as a shortcut all the time when I was a child." I replied as we started off once again.  
"That's right this is your hometown." Zack trailed off as he realized what he had just said.  
Yes, the town burning to the ground was my hometown, and see that smoking pile of burnt wood? Yep, that used to be where I lived.  
"Geez, sorry Cloud." Zack spoke as I pointed to a back road.  
I didn't answer him. I just pushed the thought back with the rest of the memories of this night, back to the corner of my mind.  
I guided Zack through the back parts of the town, glad that the Shrina guards were too busy with the fire to even notice us sneaking, in the cover of shadows, as we passed by.  
  
"Look! There's my clothes!" Zack exclaimed as a Shrina guard tossed the bag into a pile, with the rest of what was left that could be saved. Needless to say, the pile wasn't very big.  
Zack looked at me. I then watched as his expression turned thoughtful. I raised an eyebrow. Zack and I had grown close lately, I would even be bold enough to say we were pretty good friends. I knew that look of Zack's face, it meant he had a plan and more or less that plan usually didn't turn out.  
"Wait here, I'll be right back." He lowered me softly on the ground and turned a corner and was out of sight.  
I sighed, as I strained my hearing trying to think of what stun Zack was trying to pull. It wasn't long before he came back, a black bag hanging over his shoulder and his sword strapped to his back.  
"Had to pick up a few things." He spoke as, once more, he took my arm and I painfully 'stood' up.  
The rest of the night was like that, sneaking about, working our way closer and closer to the exit of Nibelheim. Once there we didn't stop. We went on, far into the country, carefully trying our best not leave a trail. It was far into the night before we stopped to rest.  
I slide down the tree into a sitting position; I caught my breath rather painfully.  
"Here man change into this, it's better than that blood soaked uniform you got on." Zack spoke as he tossed me one of his outfits from out of his bag.  
It was a purple sleeveless kind of jump suit and a pair of brown boots.  
"I gotta go change as well, be back in a sec." Zack called as he walked off.  
I realize now why he had to change, his whole side, the one I was leaning on, was covered in a dark liquid. I looked down at myself. I was bleeding again.  
Luckily, Zack and I were the same size. I somehow managed to bandage my self up and pulled on the jumpsuit. I admit, the dry cloth felt good instead of the blood stained uniform. I was pulling on the last boot when Zack returned in a similar outfit.  
"Let's check this out." Zack joked as he helped me up.  
I could tell he was holding in laughter.  
Yeah, that was Zack. Even in the gloomiest of times he still thought the average humor was necessary and needed.  
The front of the outfit was sagging; it was obvious Zack was taller than me. The outfit was a little too long for me.  
"Here try this." He tossed me a belt that had spenders on it and some sort of shoulder armor attached.  
I buckled the belt around my waist, careful not to bump my wound, then put the spenders on and last strapped the shoulder pad down. The outfit was a bit on the loose side, but it would do.  
Zack nodded as if in approval.  
The next day Zack was holding out his thumb on some road outside of Nibelheim.  
  
A truck beeped angrily telling Zack to get off the side of the road.  
Zack sneered at the driver, "People these days are ever so kind."  
I would have laughed but the trials of last night left me with no strength at all, I had fallen back on the road to wellness. I had gotten worse, I couldn't even speak, and the pain was too immense. I was limp completely... I couldn't even lift my head.  
Zack didn't expect an answer. He understood why I said nothing. He just went back to hitch hiking. Cars, trucks, vans, chocobo wagons, all passed us, some not even giving us a second glance. It was about mid afternoon when an old pick up truck jostled down the road. Zack stuck his thumb out once again, most of his hopefulness gone. It surprised us both when the truck screeched to a stopped.  
"You boys look like you could use a ride." an old middle aged man spoke with the slight twang of a country accent.  
Zack nodded, "Ya, mind?" he asked.  
"Not at all, climb in the back." He jabbed his thumb behind him pointing towards the truck's bed.  
Zack grinned as usual, "I told ya this would work."  
He helped me up and into a sitting position in the truck's bed. He then sat down on the opposite side. He gave the driver a thumbs up and we were off.  
The bouncing of the truck didn't help my wound much nor did it help my motion sickness. All I could manage was to keep down what little I had left in my stomach. I just sat there limply, my head rocking back and forth with each pothole we hit. I concentrated on Zack and his jabbering he always did when we were riding somewhere. For once I was happy for how talkative Zack was. He had struck up a conversation with our driver.  
"Where ya heading?" the driver asked.  
"As far as from here as we can get." Zack sighed.  
"Hmm.. well I can take ya as far as Midgar." the driver glanced up in his rearview mirror trying to look at Zack.  
Zack thought for a moment, "Hey, Cloud, I have a girl there. I'm sure she could get ya some medical treatment and offer us some shelter."  
I tried to show some kind of apprehension, but I was unable to.  
Zack nodded, "Sure, drop us off at Midgar."  
"What ya planning on doing there? Lookin' for a job?" the driver asked.  
Zack thought on this for a moment, "We're kind of self employed at the moment."  
"Fired or quit?" the driver asked casually.  
Zack blinked, "Kinda of both I guessed."  
"I thought so..but your young you have your whole life ahead of ya. I'm sure ya'll be able to do anything." the driver spoke as he turned down a road that was now paved.  
"Hmm. what to do now." Zack spoke, thinking out loud.  
I had no idea what to do now that I 'quit' Shrina. I would have to get a new job and I didn't feel like doing any training to get one and to tell the truth I didn't care.  
"Hey I got it, we'll be mercenaries!" Zack exclaimed as he jumped up and managed his balance in a moving truck somehow.  
"Now, when I said anything I meant-" the driver started.  
"How 'bout it Cloud, a mercenary?" Zack asked.  
I just sat there limply, he knew I couldn't respond. I didn't care though; at least I had all the requirements for being a mercenary down, if there were any.  
"Now listen-" the driver started once more.  
"Alright then it's settled, mercenaries we are." Zack spoke as he sat back down in the truck, seeming to be very satisfied with himself.  
The driver just shook his head, "I give up."  
It was evening when the driver pulled up to a bend, "Now if ya head straight that a way you'll be able to see an overview of Midgar. You follow this road and it'll lead ya to the city." He nodded.  
"Thanks." Zack acknowledged as he helped me off the truck.  
"Now careful ya two." The driver warned as he drove off.  
If only we had taken that warning to heart. Zack only waved as he proceeded toward the cliff. It was only a short walk not far off the road though for me it felt as if I had just ran a million miles. My head was spinning, my stomach was churning, and I was doubled over in pain. I was a complete crack.  
"Check this out." Zack spoke as he sat me down and stood over the end of the cliff looking over the edge of Midgar.  
I ignored him. I just laid down, face first, into the grass trying to keep the world from spinning around me. I had no idea that would be the last time I saw Zack alive. He was standing there looking over the metropolis.  
"Yeah, I'm sure in Midgar we'll find a job." he spoke.  
I heard our hired killers first, a snapping of a twig to the left of me from the woods surrounding us. I would have shouted.if I could. Shinra had found my old uniform I guess. How else would they have known we headed this way. Zack had tossed it into bushes on the way here. It never occurred to us they would actually find it.  
I heard it all. Zack turning around, startled, the unsheathing of swords, the sickening slash, and the deep thud of a body falling.  
"What about this one?" I heard a voice as a boot kicked me hard in the side.  
I grunted half out of anger and half out of pain.  
"That one is as good as dead. Leave him here, he'll be dead in a matter of minutes." another voice spoke.  
I listened as they walked off, satisfied at a job well done. The anger boiled inside of me. It stimulated my senses. I shook my head making the world come into view once more. I shoved myself up. I feed the rage adding to it more and more, it was the only thing I could gather strength from. I staggered over to the corpse of what was once a good friend, even a best friend. I leaned down and pressed my fingers against his throat trying to get some kind of pulse. None, he was gone. This just added gasoline to the fire that was already burning inside me. I picked up his blaster sword, the one he had only half draw before they ended his life. I made myself walk erect as I stood on the same overview Zack had stood on only seconds before. I gripped the blaster sword, one of the reminders of my deceased friend. I felt rage, not as bad as when I battled Sephiroth, but the rage was still there. That was when I vowed to get even.  
"I swear Shrina.you'll pay for this.mark my words." I hissed through clenched teeth.  
I looked at the mound of dirt, fresh dirt resting in front of me, no marker, no anything stood around it. It was the best I could do for my friend even though that wasn't much. I leaned against the tree as I stared down the road. It was dark by now but I didn't care. I had a job to do. I then started down the road. Only once did I glance over my shoulder at the grave. I looked on ward. I knew where I could find my first job. I heard Shrina officials cursing some small rebel group called, AVALANCHE. They had been causing some serious problems for Shrina. I knew this was the beginning of something what I couldn't tell. I just smirked as I headed towards the city on the paved road.  
"Who knows maybe this AVALANCHE group needs an insider, someone who knows their way around and I'm sure they'll pay a pretty gil for them." I spoke out loud confident where to find my first job as a mercenary. 


End file.
